Wow, this is probably the first review I've seen of the show where someone stopped watching because they legitimately disliked the turn it took, rather than because of the fandom or something.
I really have to agree about Shining Armor and Cadance. I would've been fine with the former if Twilight wasn't terribly close to him and they hadn't seen each other in a long time, but they went and made him her "BBBFF", which just made me wonder why he was never mentioned up until this painfully obvious retcon.
Same thing with Cadance. Celestia and Luna worked perfectly fine as the only alicorns on the show; it gave them an air of mystery and majesty. Then Cadance shows up and doesn't even do anything a unicorn couldn't do. Heck, I read Lauren Faust intended to make her a unicorn in the first place, but it was changed for some reason.
Good riddance. This fandom needs far less complainers.
I wouldn't exactly call this "complaining" in a negative sense. It's reasoned criticism, and although I still watch and enjoy the show I agree with at least some of it.
Most of what you've said (well, actually, ALL) I agree with. Goodbye friendship, hello princess ponies. And guy-we've-never-seen-before.
Although! Season four may hold some promises. I may have skipped the rest of Season three, but I'll give the next season a chance to see if the writing's become consistent again.
A reasonable assessment. However, given that you found redeeming qualities in the older seasons, the fourth season should at least be given the benefit of the doubt. Admittedly, the 3rd season was a bit rushed out the door to comply with the 65-episode syndication requirement, but i still found some good episodes in them (the finale was kind of... off). And yes, the need to advertise (the introduction of Cadence and Shining Armor) can put a lot of strain on the capabilities of the creative team, but to their credit, they're both characters with likable qualities in their own right, and I think the writers have done a good job integrating them into the show's canon. Well, as it's been said, we can only wait and see to how the fourth season will hold up. If you're curious, try and give it another shot. If not, no biggie.
I hate coming up with signature lines.
Thank you to all those who have commented(Except you, Zennistrad), and I have to agree on the possibility of looking at Season 4, but I'll wait for what my friends say. Although on a different front, I still like the fanart, and still collect the toys, but not to the degree I've been collecting the previous generation's toys.
I do agree that as the show progressed, pacing and characterization issues started to perk up, and a lot of recent episodes feel rather bittersweet. That said I do think a few good things came out of the long run (Rainbow Dash has developed well as a character, and I think Twilight was a bit empty until Season Two when her Super OCD gave her a defining flaw). Looking at some statements from writers seems to imply that they know somethings could have been done better, which is why I'm hopeful that things might get better before they get worse.
I wouldn't call it reasoned criticism because I either didn't notice or didn't care for any of these problems that you mentioned.
When watching a show, you suspend your disbelief. If you don't notice a flaw until someone else points it out to you, then it can't be considered a flaw.
A criticism isn't invalid just because you don't agree with it.
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Liked it for a while...
I was late to the MLP hype. I started around the time the fourth episode of Season 2 was released. When I began watching the pilot episode, I was impressed, as I was with the second episode, and remained as such for the entirety of the first season. I enjoyed the stories, even though they were pretty basic, but I liked them as such, and the characters went along with it. The animation, I was okay with it, and liked the different coloured outlines, but I didn't see anything to write home about. The voices I felt were doing the job.
Then came season 2, and at the risk of flames, I am going to say it. I despised Return Of Harmony! To be frank, I found the story dragged out, using forced, unfunny humour, Flanderization and a villain who to me is nothing more than a Manchild with a guest star to hide behind.
Now, for the rest of season 2, it was a mixed bag. Lesson Zero, I would have liked if it was in another show, but it doesn't seem right in this show. Luna Eclipsed, I can't comment really, as I wasn't in the fandom during Luna's rise to popularity. Those are the major episodes I noticed. The rest were either good enough(But not as good as season 1) or nothing I could remember. Until Canterlot Wedding! My word, did I dislike this. First, Cadance. My main problem is the fact she's an alicorn. For me, it's undermining the specialty of them. Hell, I thought even Luna was giving the show too many alicorns. Next, Remember Shining Armour? It's been 2 seasons in and suddenly, Twilight has a brother? What? And he was her best friend? Wasn't part of her character that she had no friends until Mare In The Moon? Everything else was a poorly-executed parody of Wedding Episodes.
Then Season 3... My god, it was boring. I can't say much on the season 3 episodes as I fell asleep during them. The ones I can speed review are Magic Duel, which I think was terrible as Trixie seemed nothing like herself, as well as her being Easily Forgiven. Then Keep Calm And Flutter On had the same Easily Forgiven problem, not to mention You-Know-Who. And Magical Mystery Cure. Once again the same problem Cadance presented, and Flanderization.
After that, I just seemed to stop watching FIM. But, I did watch the previous generations, and I can tell you that I liked them, even 3.5, and I will cover them in their own review pages.